At
the June 24 Board of Education meeting, a new start date to the school calendar
was approved. The first day of school for the 2020-2021 school year will now be
Wednesday, August 26. Kindergarten Phase-In at Clearcreek Elementary will now
be August 26 (A-F), August 27 (G-O), and August 28 (P-Z), with the first day
for Kindergarten now Monday, August 31. Pre-School Phase-In at Clearcreek
Elementary will now begin on Friday, August 28.
Please note, this does not impact the scheduled last day of school on the current school calendar, which remains Thursday, May 27. No extra days will be added to the school calendar, as a result of the district’s new start date. However, in the event of school closings due to weather, the possibility would still remain, as it would in any given school year, for extra days to be added at the end of the school year.
The
decision to push back the start of school by one week was made in an effort to
reduce any potential health/safety risk for our students, teachers, and staff,
as well as provide the opportunity for teachers to have professional
development focused around remote learning. This extra week will allow our
teachers/staff the necessary time to prep for an altered start of the school,
while also providing more time to create social distancing measures within our
buildings.
While no final decision has been made yet, regarding the start
of school, we anticipate a decision to be made in the coming weeks, as we are
actively working to develop a draft plan. This draft plan will be directly
communicated to our parents, students, and staff. This is a continually
evolving situation, and our district will continue to monitor the latest
recommendations from the Warren County Health Dept. and the State of Ohio.